Harvey Elliott, Darwin Nunez and the Liverpool fringe players set for key roles in Reds' treble bid

Jurgen Klopp absolutely adored Wataru Endo, whom he labelled a "machine" after the 2024 Carabao Cup final win over Chelsea before tipping the Japan international for an extended stay on Merseyside. However, Klopp's successor, Arne Slot, didn't seem quite so enamoured with Endo - at least not initially. The 32-year-old saw just three minutes of Premier League action during the first two-and-a-half months of the season.

He's still waiting for his first top-flight start under Slot but, over the past couple of months, Endo has gained the Dutchman's trust, effectively becoming Liverpool's 'closer', the man regularly tasked with helping his side see out games.

He was at it again in Paris. After being brought on for the final 11 minutes of normal time, Endo didn't misplace a single pass and applied the kind of pressure to PSG's players that had been conspicuous by its absence before his introduction.

He clearly doesn't have all the qualities Slot wants from his No.6, but given just how poorly the overused Ryan Gravenberch performed in Paris, Endo is likely to be called on far more regularly over the next month or so. Indeed, he may even make his first Premier League start of the season in Saturday's meeting with Southampton at Anfield.

Despite repeatedly making a massive impact off the bench during Klopp's final season in charge, Harvey Elliott made it very clear that he didn't want to be known solely as a "super-sub". At 21 years of age, he wanted more regular game time - and, during pre-season, he got plenty under Slot. Elliott appeared to have the ideal skillset for the No.10 role within the former Feyenoord coach's preferred formation.

However, when the campaign kicked-off, he still found himself behind Dominik Szoboszlai in the pecking order before disaster struck, as Elliott was sidelined by a fractured foot. The net result is that the Englishman is, just like Endo, still waiting for his first Premier League start of the season.

The good news, though, is that Elliott hasn't let his understandable sense of frustration affect him negatively, and when his chance came in Paris, he took it, just 46 seconds after coming off the bench, meaning he's now scored in his last three Champions League games.

"A big moment for him," Slot said at Parc des Princes. "I can understand that he is sometimes annoyed by the playing time he gets because he is a good player, but he is in competition for players that I hardly take off."

Rotation will be required between now and the end of the season, though, and, luckily for Liverpool, Elliott remains willing to play the role of super-sub - for a few more months, at least...

Unfortunately for Darwin Nunez and Liverpool, this season has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Uruguayan isn't good enough to be the starting striker at a club challenging for major honours. The Reds may have been indebted to Nunez's late double for their vital victory at Brentford in January, but such decisive displays have become increasingly rare, and his profligacy has repeatedly cost his team precious points, most notably in the recent 2-2 draw at Aston Villa.

After the latter fixture, Slot even called Nunez out for the way in which he reacted to missing an open goal shortly after coming on, with the 25-year-old's work-rate dipping dramatically thereafter. However, credit where it's due, Nunez vowed to keep fighting for the cause and did precisely that in Paris, winning an aerial battle with Marquinhos before teeing up Elliott for the winner.

The crucial assist should do wonders for Nunez and his wildly fluctuating confidence levels, meaning there's now a chance that could play an important role in the run-in. Despite his obvious deficiencies, Nunez undeniably has the pace and strength to cause opponents problems.

His time at Anfield will almost inevitably come to a close this summer, but Nunez now has the chance to bow out on a positive note.

It would not be a shock to see Kostas Tsimikas follow Nunez out of Anfield this summer. The 28-year-old Greece international should be starting regularly at this stage of his career, and there's not much evidence to suggest that he's viewed as Andy Robertson's successor - even on a short-term basis. On the contrary, everything presently points to Liverpool signing a promising young left-back like Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez during the off-season.

However, if this is to be Tsimikas' final year with the Reds, he can be proud of his efforts. He's put Robertson under more pressure for his starting spot than ever before - the 2020 signing from Olympiacos has actually provided more assists than the Scot despite starting 18 fewer games - and there's a very real chance that the pair could be rotated regularly between now and the end of the season as Slot looks to keep the energy levels up in defence.

Jarell Quansah has unquestionably taken a step back this season. He finished the previous campaign so well that he even earned himself inclusion in England's preliminary squad for Euro 2024, so the expectation was that he'd go from strength to strength under Slot.

However, Quansah was replaced at half-time in Liverpool's season-opener at Ipswich Town and has started just one game since, having been well and truly usurped by a resurgent Ibrahima Konate as the preferred partner for Virgil van Dijk in the centre of defence.

All of a sudden, though, Quansah has a very important role to play in Liverpool's treble push, as he's now been effectively charged with providing cover in two positions. It's not clear at all if Joe Gomez will return before the end of the season, meaning Quansah has been promoted to Liverpool's third-choice centre-back. He's also providing cover for Trent Alexander-Arnold, with Conor Bradley having picked up a most untimely injury that is likely to keep him out of action until after the international break.

With the Southampton game coming in between the two meetings with PSG, it now seems highly likely that Quansah will start at Anfield on Saturday - either at centre-back or right-back, given both Alexander-Arnold and Konate could do with a rest.

Does Federico Chiesa have a long-term future at Liverpool? It's looking increasingly unlikely. The former Italy international signed a four-year contract with the club when he arrived on a cut-price deal last summer and he clearly loves playing at Anfield.

The only problem is he's barely made it onto the pitch during his first season on Merseyside. We knew that Chiesa had injury issues before he joined and we knew that he would take some time to get up to speed, given he didn't have a proper pre-season after being frozen out of Thiago Motta's Juventus squad before his departure.

However, after a couple of encouraging cameos around the turn of the year, it's staggering that Chiesa hasn't been seeing any action at all during his ridiculously busy time of the season. One would have thought that he'd be the ideal man to bring on for either Luis Diaz or Mohamed Salah in Paris - particularly with Cody Gakpo still missing through injury - but he once again remained on the bench for the duration of the game.

Chiesa still has time, though, to make a contribution off the bench, starting with Southampton on Saturday. If Liverpool manage to scrape past PSG, they're going to have a few more winnable league games in between European assignments, and a fully-fit Chiesa would be a very useful option for Slot in light of the likely increasing need to rotate his favoured wingers.

Salah, at the very least, would benefit from some time off at some point if he's to maintain his fantastic form going into the decisive section of the season. As we saw at Parc des Princes, the Reds will need their reserves to continue stepping up to the mark when their stars struggle, if this season is to have a happier ending than the last.